Google, Facebook and other internet companies have been warned by India's High Court that their websites could be blocked if they fail to remove "offensive, objectionable" content from their sites.
The Delhi High Court told representatives from Facebook and Google yesterday that the firms "must have a stringent check" in place …

I agree...

Personally I think if that type of content is such a big deal then the current government should make it illegal. If that type of content is NOT illegal and the government does not want to make it so then shut up about it. The best way to fight alternative or opposite opinions is by encouraging free speech. Censorship is never the answer.

Indian journos for cencorship?

Yes, India is a bloody large country. Why they feel the need to turn into China, though, is a bit beyond me. Even in a small country you can't please everyone, so why bother at all? You are free to not go there and refrain from looking at things you know would offend you. The Chinese very clearly do it to keep hold of their power. What do the Indians do it for? Are they not, in fact, actually democratic?

The US is ostensibly democratic too, but there is still quite a bit of censorship here (usually followed by "FOR THE CHILDREN" or somesuch).

Remember the fervor over Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction? The worst thing about that wasn't that people saw a tit on TV, it's that it was an old nasty dried up tit on TV. Certainly not the sort of tit I'd want my kids to see...

Optional

Re: Optional

Fair question, answered in the news wire copy but since embedded into the article: the government minister said stuff like faked naked pictures of Indian political leaders and religiously sensitive images are "unacceptable".

Content

the first example which was given was fake nude photos of politicians. I will not pretend to know Indian laws. I am not sure if that sort of imagery or manipulation is illegal. If it is then it is not offensive content it is ILLEGAL content and as such should be remove on that premise and that premise alone.

The other content mentioned was anti-religion or religious parodies. Again...if that type of content is ILLEGAL then remove it on that premise and that premise alone. Just because a group of people find that offensive is no reason to remove it, their is obviously another group who don't. So if I find that religion in general is offensive (but not illegal) should I then be allowed to have all religious content removed? (the answer is no) opinions and beliefs are just that so if the government chooses to censor content to try and push or lean the general population in a certain direction then call a duck a duck (that last comment didn't offend anyone did it?).

Rich

I found the scenes of widespread poverty on the streets of Mumbai objectional. Perhaps the government should focus their efforts to feeding and providing shelter for the millions of homeless families instead of trying to censor their population against Beyonce videos on Youtube.

Also, as the "world's largest democracy" what percentage of the population actually has access to the internet?

And elephants with 8 arms

Power moving east?

Forget all the arguments about censorship, or freedom. What we have here is another example of the most populous countries in the world recognising that they have power: both political and commercial - and exercising it.

Whether the "objectionable" material the Indian government is objecting to (surely de facto, if they object to it, that alone makes it objectionable?) is political in nature, religious, cultural or illegal is less of an issue. We already live in a world where a self-appointed copyright guardian in one country has given itself the right to dictate to everyone on the planet what they may or may not show, stream, upload or view. That's got to be a far less legitimate use of power than for an elected body to require similar controls within its own borders.

Sheep

Indeed

Democracy in action... I'd say hypocrisy in action

It's perfectly acceptable for millions in the country to live in squalor many of them without any form of education, clean water or electricity but post a faked naked picture of the idiots that continue to allow them to live in those conditions whilst partaking in the delights of the widespread corruption and suddenly their sensibilities need protected.

Lazy Indians ...

Religious

Huh this means that those who object to me saying things like the Koran is a book inciting violence and that most rag hats are out to kill christians is offensive. Well I am afraid that much of their rubbish is offensive to me so please can we block things relating to rag hat stuff on You tube and so on. Better yet just shut them from the internet for a week or three. With no server access then let them see how they cope.

Lets blow up all mosques, there lets see if they want that stopped. In fact, lets go one step further, stop all rag hat passports, make rag hat wearing and sympathising punishable by stoning (EXACTLY the same as the Koran asks that people who convert to Christianity are dealt with) All that stuff is offensive to me so MS, Yahoo, facebook and the like we want all that stuff removed from your sites.

Roger ...

How simple minded are you....?

Good grief! Not just a horrible racist rant against Muslims, by someone who's clearly never read beyond the title page of the Qu'ran, but by someone who is completely pig ignorant of world history too. For the record, India is predominantly Hindu, not Muslim. Didn't you do history in school then, pal? Probably too focussed on getting you NVQ in football hooliganism I expect. For the record, try Googling the partition of India. It happened in 1947, and split what was the former India under the British Empire into the modern (Hindu majority) India and the Muslim majority countries of West Pakistan and East Pakistan (which itself later turned into Bangladesh). I don't know. Sometimes I really do despair of my fellow countrymen. You'll be telling us next that the fundamental principle of Buddhism is every man for himself, I suppose.

Crackpots

Another crackpot government. Do they actually think blocking what they call objectionable will make them holesome? THere are thousands of sites which have material that could even make High Heffner blush [or at least happy].

Google off = Internet Lobotomy

I really don't mind if India blocks Google or Facebook - it would be "as if millions of voices cried out and were suddenly silenced" - all those India based cold callers will struggle to pretend they're called Dave and are just down the road because they've checked on the weather in your general area or what's going on in Eastenders before they start their evening of auto-dialled pestering.

Go for it India - see who squeals first - your own businesses or Google/Facebook.

I don't like censorship, but...

Whereas I wouldn't be surprised if a bunch of politicians protecting their over inflated pride is a part of this, there is a more serious side, which has nothing to do with such things. It is the kind of content which may result in mobs killing each other, whether it is in the name of religion, caste or whatever. Don't other countries have laws against stuff?

India has grown up a lot in recent years. The terrorism still goes on, but, thank god and the common sense of Indian people, those who seek to turn one group against another often fail. Carnage is one of their tools. It seems facebook may be another.

It is easy to dismiss people as prudes, but it is nowhere near that simple. In fact, it could be a matter of lives and deaths.

Stuff the terrorism, what about the religious mob violence?

Every single religious sect on the entire subcontinent commits mass bloodletting via street mobs on a repetitive and reliable basis. To say that India has 'grown up' in recent years is to dismiss nearly every media source available, including the state sponsored ones.